What world countries were not heavily invovled in World War II?

The name World War II seems to indicate that ever country around the globe was involved in some way. However, there were a few countries who were able to keep out of the war, or at least remain less involved than others.

It is important to remember that just because a country was “neutral” does not mean that it wasn’t involved in the conflict somehow. There were eight countries that declared neutrality; Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, The Vatican, Andorra, Ireland and Liechtenstein. However, all of these countries were still involved in small ways.

Switzerland was neutral, but collaborated with the Nazi regime financially by hiding German wealth in its banking system.

Sweden allowed German troops to use its railroads during their invasion of Russia. They also allowed Norwegian and German soldiers to travel across the country frequently. Later, they allowed Danish and Norwegian refugees to train in their country for the eventual liberation of their countries.

Lichtenstein remained very much out of the conflict, but because of their historical ties to Austria and Germany , they had lands expropriated by Allied nations at the war’s end. They also, like their neighbor Switzerland, became a depository of treasures and heirlooms.

Spain was too torn up from their own Civil War to get involved, but sent aid to their fellow fascist nations throughout the war.

Ireland’s people overwhelmingly voted for neutrality, but 34,000 Irishmen volunteered to fight for Britain and the Allies.

Portugal exported goods to both fascist and allied nations during the war.

Andorra was used as a smuggling route between Spain and Vichy France and was eventually occupied by Charles du Galle when he retook France with the allies.

The Vatican remained untouched during the war despite harassment from both Germany and Italy. It gave refuge to some jews and allowed its walls to be used for communication between the axis and the allies.

Japanese imperial leadership felt that they were "entitled" to the Hawaiian Islands, and since we were already there they felt that they had the right to drive us out. Japanese leaders told their people that since the Japanese people were more "genetically pure" they would be able to bring a war to the United States that we would not be able to endure because of our genetic inferiority. The U.S. and Japan had actually been in diplomatic talks at the time of the attack. They were successful in catching the Americans with most of the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. They made the mistake of awakening a sleeping giant. Here is more input: Japan invaded mainland China (they already had Manchuria, the north east part of China)in 1936. This brought about much tension between the U.S. and Japan, as the Americans were allies of the Chinese. The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina (but would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory). General Hideki set November 29 as the last day on which Japan would accept a settlement without war. His deadline, which was kept secret, meant that war was going to happen. So, because America's and Japan's terms collided, so did their expectations therefore causing Japan to react. Japan wanted to become self-sufficient in resources such as coal, rice, and rubber. The pacific ocean was full of these, but unfortunately the U.S. was there as well. For many years before Pearl Harbor, the US had been placing trade embargoes on Japan. They limited their trading with the Japanese, and persuaded other countries not to trade with them. This boycotting of goods and trade did not please the Japanese at all because they were a growing empire and needed trade to survive. After Japan invaded French Indochina, the U.S. froze Japanese assets and cut off iron supplies. This infuriated the Japanese and made them even more certain that they needed a larger pacific empire. WWII was a war with 3 nations - Italy, Germany and Japan - all believing they were the ultimate race, that all other nations were inferior to them. The United States was involved through providing financial aide and supplies to the allied forces but they had not stepped up to get involved yet. Japan felt that attacking the US would provide them an easy win, and a country with a lot of land and resources to rule once they did defeat us. Japan attacked at 07:55am on December 7, 1941. They only sent 2 of the 3 waves of attacking forces before deciding enough damage had been done. But they knew that the U.S. were not going to sit back after the attack on them either. They did not have their aircraft carriers in harbor at the time so their navy was not wiped out. The Japanese forces made for home preparing for retaliation. A large amount of the weapons used against the Americans by Japan were made from their scrap metal to top it off. cause for the bombing of pearl harbor Japan lead a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941, because President Roosevelt decide to no longer trade with Japan. Japan would no longer get scrap metal and oil they needed for their war activities, which made them angry. Japan no longer saw America as their ally. Also Japan thought that they were entitled to the Hawaiian islands.So japan was